SYNOPSIS: On 3
January 1968, then SP4 Kenneth R. Lancaster was a team leader of a Long Range
Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) team operating in the dense triple-canopy jungle
covered mountains of Khan Hoa Province, South Vietnam. Their mission included
locating, identifying and reporting on Viet Cong (VC) activity. This area
was well known as a hotbed of communist activity. After successfully completing
their mission, the patrol was being extracted by helicopter from a designated
pickup point approximately 7 miles south-southwest of Duc My, 11 miles east-southeast
of Ninh Hoa and 19 miles northwest of Nha Trang.

About one minute after takeoff,
a member of the team saw then SP4 Lancaster hanging onto the right skid of
the Huey as the aircraft continued to gain altitude for its return flight
to base. The pilot was informed of the situation and requested to make an
emergency landing immediately. When it became apparent the pilot was not able
to land due to the jungle and rugged terrain below, members of the team and
aircrew quickly prepared to lower a rope to Kenneth Lancaster. However, before
the rescue attempt could be made, the team leader fell from the skid of the
Huey from an altitude of 1000 to 1500 feet.

The area in which Lancaster
fell had heavy vegetation and a triple canopy jungle, creating a slim possibility
that the trees and heavy vegetation could have broken his fall. Immediately
search and rescue (SAR) efforts were initiated. The area of loss was searched
visually from the air that day, then again on 7 and 8 January by American
and indigenous platoons on the ground. Unfortunately, a thorough search of
the area was limited because the exact location of loss could not be pinpointed.

The dense jungle and heavy
enemy activity in it further hampered the SAR effort. Regardless of these
restrictions, US intelligence believed there was a high probability that the
communists knew the fate of SP4 Lancaster, and could account for him whether
he was alive or dead. When no trace of the team leader could be found, Kenneth
Lancaster was listed Missing in Action.

Since the end of the Vietnam
War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise
unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports
document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast
Asia TODAY.

Military personnel in Vietnam
were call upon to operate in many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared
to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that
they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.